RIP Geoff Strong

Liverpool Football Club is deeply saddened to announce the passing of former player Geoff Strong.

A member of Bill Shankly's successful team of the 1960s, the 75-year-old passed away peacefully this morning.

Signed from Arsenal for £40,000 in November 1964, with whom he had made his name as an inside forward, scoring an impressive 69 goals in 125 league games, it was his versatility that made him a priceless asset at Anfield.

In the six years that he spent here, the likeable Geordie was used to great effect in many different positions, occupying almost every position apart from goalkeeper and excelling in every one of them.

At the end of his first season with the Reds, Strong famously replaced the injured Gordon Milne in the 1965 FA Cup final and performed admirably against Footballer of the Year Bobby Collins as Liverpool won the trophy for the first time.

The following season he won a league championship medal and scored one of Anfield's most celebrated goals against Celtic in the semi-final of the European Cup Winners' Cup when, despite being badly affected by a leg injury, he climbed to meet Ian Callaghan's right-wing centre and headed the ball past Ronnie Simpson for the goal which took Liverpool through to the final.

In the 1968-69 season he proved himself a capable left-back after replacing Peter Wall in that position, but he was one of the casualties of the dreadful FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Watford in February 1970 and only represented the club on five more occasions, the last being a home defeat to champions-elect Everton exactly a month after the cup defeat. He moved on to Coventry City that summer.

Even though he was more of a squad player than a regular in the side, Geoff was a very popular player and when he led his new team out at Anfield in November 1970, he received a wonderful ovation from the Liverpool crowd as a tribute to the service he had given the club for nearly six years.

He will be sadly missed by all his former teammates and anyone who ever watched him in action.

The thoughts of everyone at Liverpool Football Club go out to his family and friends at this sad time.